Carlos Rodon touched up again, Anthony Volpe homers for Yankees against Phillies

Carlos Rodon got touched up again and Anthony Volpe and Oswaldo Cabrera homered as the Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies played to a 7-7 tie Thursday afternoon in Grapefruit League action

Against many of the Phils’ top arms early in the game, Yanks’ batters struck out 14 times on the afternoon overall, including 11 times by projected roster players.

Here are the takeaways…

– Rodon went to work getting Kyle Schwarber swinging on a 3-2 slider and Nick Castellanos looking at a slider to start the first before Brandon Marsh ripped a double to center (102.7 mph off the bat) on the fastball. The lefty recovered to get Edmundo Sosa swinging at changeup to end the inning.

Rodon got stung in the second, following up a one-out, four-pitch walk with a two-run home run by Johan Rojas on a 3-2 fastball. The lefty got ahead 0-2, but the 95 mph pitch got the heart of the plate and was punished to right. But the ball (357 feet, 98.4 mph) would not have been a homer in any MLB park. An infield single set up an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

In the third, Rodon got Schwarber swinging (again on the slider) and Castellanos to fly out to center before walking Marsh, twice losing his grip on curveballs that went behind the lefty batter’s head. In his final batter of the day, Sosa yanked a curveball on the outside corner, uncorking a deep fly to the left-center (106.1 mph) for an RBI double when Jasson Dominguez failed to come up with the catch against the fence.

His final line: three runs on four hits with a walk and four strikeouts on 57 pitches (34 strikes) to get through 2.2 innings. Rodon threw 23 fastballs with a 93.7 mph average. He got 16 called strikes and whiffs, with five each on the slider and curveball.

– Volpe went down looking on a breaking pitch in the first against ex-Met Zack Wheeler before he leveled the score in the top of the third by taking Phillies lefty Matt Strahm deep to left, absolutely clobbering a 2-0 fastball (386 feet, 110 mph) for a two-run shot. Volpe made a bid for a second extra-base hit in the sixth driving a sinker to center (97.5 mph), but it was tracked down for an out for a 1-for-3 day.

– Cabrera, batting from the left side, lined a two-out, seventh-inning solo home run to right (363 feet, 97.4 mph) in his third time up to go 1-for-3 on the afternoon.

– Jazz Chisholm Jr., playing second base, grounded out to second, walked, and went down looking on a sweeper (unsuccessfully challenging the third strike) his three times up.

– Dominguez, batting out of the three-hole, punched a two-out single to the opposite field in left in the first inning off Wheeler. He went down looking at a fastball batting from the right side his second time up and popped up in foul territory to the catcher in the sixth.

But the misplay in left field on Sosa’s RBI double will be a bigger concern. The 22-year-old appeared to have a pretty good beat on the ball but appeared to awkwardly jump with an outstretched arm and missed the ball, losing his hat in the process.

– Ben Rice swung through a Wheeler splitter, was caught looking at a 100.7 mph sinker on a 3-2 offering from Jose Alvarado his second time up, and grounded out to second to go 0-for-3.

– Center fielder Spencer Jones struck out swinging on a 96 mph fastball, lined out to right, and swung through a 93 mph fastball to finish 0-for-3.

– Everson Pereira was doing the DHing and struck out looking on a 97 mph fastball and swinging at a 95 mph cutter in his first two chances before finishing the day 0-for-4.

– Tim Hill loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth on a single to right, walk and infield hit to short. But the lefty got a grounder to first to cut down the runner at the plate and a 6-4-3 double play to keep the Phils off the board.

– Right-hander Fernando Cruz, who came over to The Bronx in the Jose Trevino trade, surrendered a run in the fourth: hitting the leadoff batter, throwing a wild pitch before allowing a one-out single up the middle.

– The Yanks turned things around in the eighth as Phillies minor leaguer Max Lazar failed to protect a three-run lead. After loading the bases with one out, a sac fly by Jared Wegner and a three-run homer by Alexander Vargas, who both spent last year at Double-A, put the visitors up 7-6.

– In the bottom of the ninth, Cade Austin got two quick outs on strikeouts before loading the bases on a hit batter and two walks. He then walked in the game-tying run and was hooked. Cole Zaffiro entered and got Carson DeMartini to wave at a curveball to end the game with the bases loaded.